What is Fracking..?

Fracking is extreme fossil fuel extraction. It is short for ‘Hydraulic Fracturing’, a form of unconventional gas development.

High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing

Fluid is used to fracture rock in order to extract oil or gas. The fluid is a mixture of water, chemicals and sand. Fracking methods are proposed for shale rock deep underground in Lancashire. Shale rock is not very permeable, so the gas doesn’t flow through it. This means a conventional well won’t work in the shale formation, and fracking is the only way to extract the gas. Wells are drilled vertically down, and then horizontally to access more shale. Millions of gallons of frack fluid is injected and pumped to extreme pressure, until the rock fractures open. Sand particles prop open the cracks so gas can flow into the well.

Because shale is so impermeable, and the process is so difficult, fracking requires a huge number of wells. Lancashire would require several thousand wells to extract the amount of gas that companies and the government say they want; we are in a northern sacrifice zone..!